Month: September 2019

Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders may or may not become president. And Democrats’ chances of taking complete control of Congress appear slim. Still, the author of today’s article expresses concern that “If the Dems take over, the top federal bracket goes to 50%, the cap on payroll taxes goes away and dividends and capital gains lose their favorable rates. Would the wealth tax start at $50 million? Of course not. Plan on $5 million.” So how can wealthier Americans protect their assets from such a scenario? CLICK HERE.

How do people who save 20% or more of their incomes for retirement – so-called retirement “super savers” – manage to do it? New research provides a big part of the answer, identifying “the single biggest difference between what super savers spent less on, as compared to the rest of us” – something super savers spend just 14% of their incomes on compared to 23% for non-super-savers. What is this critical difference in spending that allows super savers to save so much more for retirement? CLICK HERE.

The difference between running a marathon race and preparing for retirement, the author of today’s article observes, is that “When you cross the finish line in a marathon, you know the race is over. But when you quit the workforce, it’s much harder to figure out whether you’ve successfully reached retirement.” So how can you get a good sense of whether you’re succeeding financially as you enter retirement? He outlines 15 indicators – some money-related, and some not. For more CLICK HERE.

Individuals tend to retire when the market (and their portfolio balances) are up. However, as today’s article observes, “even though people often retire after periods of strong market returns, that, somewhat counterintuitively, tends to reduce their portfolios’ sustainability rather than enhance it.” This is one of the five retirement-planning blind spots that can catch retirees off-guard that the author details. For more on these blind spots to check before “pulling the rip cord” and leaving the working world for retirement, CLICK HERE.

How can retirees best ready themselves for a possible recession? Construct a sound financial plan if you don’t already have one, according to the author of today’s article. And if you already have an appropriate financial plan in place, his advice, “in short, is to do nothing.” Why does he recommend doing nothing in the face of a possible recession? Because, as he proceeds to outline, “a recession doesn’t automatically lead to losses in your portfolio”. For more, CLICK HERE.

If you’ve been extremely diligent and managed to save $1 million for retirement, how can you best make that $1 million last for a 30-year retirement? Today’s article outlines four different strategies (two conservative approaches and two moderate approaches) to do just that, with two of the strategies involving drawing down that $1 million nest egg over 30 years and the other two strategies preserving all $1 million for the entire 30 years. For more, CLICK HERE.

With the market butting up against all-time highs, those who are about to retire may be feeling particularly concerned, given sequence of returns risk and the potentially catastrophic effect of poor returns early on in retirement. For those nervous near-retirees, today’s article may provide some comfort as it outlines what a research team found when it comes to retiring at an all-time high in the market versus retiring at a random time in the market. For more, CLICK HERE.

If you want to increase your chances of a financially secure retirement, new research indicates that one way to do so is to be dynamic…with your spending strategy. The study “measured the success rates of various strategies that adjusted withdrawal rates depending on whether your portfolio in any given year is ahead or behind of what your retirement financial plan had assumed it should be” – and suggests that you can significantly increase the likelihood of achieving your retirement financial goals with relatively modest adjustments. For more on dynamic retirement financing strategies, CLICK HERE.

You’ve heard of black swan events (events which are extremely rare and hard to predict but which can have severe consequences), but what about white swan events? As today’s article explains, these events can be just as devastating to financial plans, but, despite the fact that they are more common and foreseeable than black swan events, people spend little time thinking about them. The author proceeds to outline some white swan events that he failed to predict when planning his early retirement, making the first two years of his retirement extremely tumultuous. For more, CLICK HERE.

While he acknowledges that they are “kind of boring”, when it comes to this retirement investment, the author of today’s article argues that “boring is brilliant.” The investment in question? Target-date funds. He proceeds to outline a number of reasons why investors should embrace these “boring” investment vehicles – and a simple strategy to overcome one of their few shortcomings and “wind up with anywhere from 10% to 50% more money in retirement.” For more, CLICK HERE.